The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-08-01
CANOEING FOR WOMEN.
The Boat That Women Can Paddle
With Pleasure.

The canoe is adapted to the timid sex; it is
the safest boat that ever took water The
canoe is suited to the less muscular half of
humanity padding is not fatiguing The
canoe gratifles the social instinct; canoeists
are always good fellows, and there is not a
single PROFESSIONAL in the ranks of the
feminine curioSity--though this mental
virtue is of both sexes, and on the water You
call it interest in the scenery-it goes
frankly ahead instead of blindly backing
up like rowboat against the point OF
destination. The canoe, to any body, man
or woman, who cares for the water, gives
more enjoyment to the square inch than
any steaming or rowing or sailing craft de
vised
The canoe is the ideal small boat. To
own one is to adopt it into your family and
to feel for il the affection that one bestows
on living thing. Its graceful lines and
the polished wood of its finish tempt a
caress. Its shell is so thin that, sitting on
your cushion i'll it's bottom, you feel every
pulse OF every wave, and canoelst and canoe
almost become parts of the same organism.
Nothing else that floats gives the same sense
of oneness with the boat A woman is
perpetually tempted to take the long double
paddle home and hang it on her parlor
wall for brio a-brac. 1t is the prettiest
thing in the mechanical line made and
should never waste its sweetness in a boat
house.
The modern canoe is an entirely practica
bic thing for woman to handle. To fit 1t
completely to her use requires but few
changes, and those readily made. AS de
fined by the rules of the American Canoe
Association, the canoe is a boat sharp at
both ends, not more than thirty-six inches
wide on deck and propelled by paddle or
sails, but capable of being propelled eff
GENTLY by a double bladed paddle. The
canoe is in shape not unlike the birch, but is
cleaner and more complex i'll its lines. The
open canoe for still water use is the Eghtest
of cedar shells The decked canoe may be
long and narrow for a padding racer, or
shorter and wider for a sailing racer, but
for all around cruising use, and this com
prises the great majority of all canoes built,
it will not vary greatly from fourteen feet
in length by thirty inches width Twenty
four inches and thirty-three inches are IN
actual use extremes of which the width
given is the mean Such a canoe carries
centre board or not according to the
work for which she is designed. She has
well or cockpit for her solitary passenger,
who is skipper and crew in enc, which used
TO be three feet, but is now commonly five
feet long by eighteen or twenty inches wide.
She has steering gear connected with the
rudder lines under the fore deck Just where
the feet manipulate it conveniently, and
also for hand use on the deck in case whore
the crew is also ballast hanging by his toes
out to windward in breeze. The canoe
has two nlasts and carries a cloud of canvas
or none at all, according to the breeze and
the sailors within. She is never fitted with
seats, but the skipper composes himself on
cushion, leaning against swinging back
board that is the perfection of ease. In case
the waves show any disposition to play
practical jokes uOOn him he adjusts the
matches, with which the cockpit is provided
as watersheds about him, and doesn't ship
teacupful where an open boat might cap
size The Rob y-Macgregor's boat in
which he made his famous Norway and
Palestine voyageS-was the earliest of mod
ern canoe models and was quickly followed
and improved upon by the American
Travelling Canoe, the Stella Maris, the
Princess the Grayling, the Mohican and
scores more. The Snake, the Nesper, the
Sunbeam and the Pecowsc have been among
recent successes, but 1t is impossible to par
ticularize for every year since 1880 has
marked an era in canoe building in this
country, and American canoes are the best
made. The Shadow the lines of which were
taken from the original boat of that name
used by w. l.. Alden, formerly of the New
York Times, now Consul General to Italy,
was ono of the earlier models used, and for
general use under sail aud paddle both has
hardly been surpassed since.
So much for what the canoe has been and
is To accommodate it to feminine use the
open canoe needs no changes whatever
There is a light canoe called the ''bucktail.n
which weighs but ten pounds, and TO send
which Swimming over the water requires
barely more than the strength of 10-year-
old child The bucktail is not a salt water
boat, but on inland rivers is perfectly trust
worthy. IL has floated trapper with his
luggage through the lakes of the Adiron-
dacks, and will take girl fond of
out of-door living in three and a half
inches of water close under the green bank
where the birds nest and the ferns grow
tall. Under the name of the NesSmuk a
similar canoe is built little SITTER to weigh
20 pounds.
For a declxed canoe which a woman may
use in any water that she is ever likely to
find herself afloat upon one of the best
known of the canoe builders has a model
which he calls the Daisy, and which is in
tended to meet the demand which is
gradually arising for canoes for women to
use. The Daisy is a foot shorter than the
average canoe; that is it is Is feet in length
and light and manageable in proportion. 1t
is q graceful boat and deserves its name
Anywhere in tide water regions, or where
big waves are included in Uhe order of the
day, usual modification of the canoe, es-
pecially when husband and wife have a
fancy for cruising together, is to lengthen
it one foot or two, put in seven-foot cock
pit and convert it into a tandem In
tandem canoe the woman sits forward. If
she is not a sailor. or it suits him TO do all
the work. she faces the skipper, and-this
of course applies largely TO the unmarried
looks into his eTes If the two share
their labor as w1las their play tie woman
faces front. attends, to the steering, per-
haps, and handles a paddle with what zeal
she may 80 -
But everybody says the canoe is cranky,
unfit for a man, tosay nothing Of a woman
to enter. This is 'o>case where everybody is
mistaken. Everybody, in fact, knows moth
ing about it, IsQpls ntiit fronllthe common
sense point Of view The canoe Is balasted
low. Its passengers sit on the bottom. It's
centre of gravity is so placed that il is next
TO impossible for it to capsize. - Properly
handled it will ride out a heavy blow on big
waters. But canoes do capsize. Yes, and
one always hears of IL, too. That is because
regattas are about the only canoeing events
ever reported, and in canoe races il has be-
come the fashion 10 carry sails twice as
large as boats OF that size were ever meant
10 stand up under. The racer abandons his
secure position and sits on the dock He
enjoys himself and when he tips over he
doesn't drown. Any decently built canoe
has two air tight compartments which will
support from seventy to one hundred pounds
dead weight, that means they would float